Super Smash Bros., Sephiroth arrives

It would have been difficult for any character to come after Steve, taken from Minecraft: his announcement sent online traffic into crisis, and he was able to reach a wider audience than the - already large - Super Smash Bros. In a way, at least initially, Steve had attracted ire - is it possible not to now? - of all those people who, from this saga, want a totally Japanese or Nintendian roster. Steve broke his loyalty to these criteria: he was the first Western-born fighter not directly linked to the Nintendo world. In addition to this, he is a character belonging to what, numerically, is the best-selling game in history: bearer of far too vast cultural references for certain elite fans. And so here is Sephiroth, almost opposite to Steve: a fighter from a glorious and old Japanese game, Final Fantasy VII, which recently also had a prized remake.

Sephiroth, as Sakurai said in the presentation film, is perhaps the most famous antagonist in the world of video games (together, according to him, with Bowser). Before discovering the moves and peculiarities of the character together, let's just remember that he is the third fighter of the second Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Pass; he comes after Min Min and Steve, and precedes the last (for now) wrestlers, whose identity is still unknown. The purchase methods are the usual, we will remind you quickly. You can buy the entire Fighter Pass Vol. 2 for 29.99 Euros, which includes six fighters; if you are only interested in Sephiroth, it is possible to buy it - together with the stage and the music - for 5.99 Euros. He will be, according to the current tally, the number 78 fighter of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

If you decided to buy it, in any of the two ways, you could already face it in the special section created by Sakurai: it will last until December 23rd and, if you manage to defeat it, you could already use it before that date. This particular challenge can be experienced at various levels of difficulty and, in case of defeat - unlike the original plans - it can be repeated at will.

Sephiroth

So many times the faithful Super fans Smash Bros. have complained about the excessive presence of representatives of Fire Emblem, and also the exaggerated number of swordsmen. They also complained about much more, but in this context let's limit ourselves to these two controversies. Sephiroth doesn't belong to Fire Emblem, but he sure is a swordsman, additionally left-handed, and his blade is the impressive, huge Masamune. What - we imagine - the fans mainly complain about, is not so much the high number of swordsmen, but the poor differentiation between some of them: well, this problem does not affect Sephiroth. He is a completely new character, with a different blade from any other, and with totally new moves.

We will not analyze all his shots one by one, but there is a fundamental element to take into consideration for this character: his attacks are extremely powerful and with a wide range but, at the same time, if wrong they leave the fighter vulnerable. They are also quite slow, even the lightest and most classic possible which, according to Sakurai, will still be useful in case an opponent gets too close. This specification, in our opinion, is very important: for Sephiroth it will be vital to keep his distance from his rivals, and to avoid as much as possible the melee, especially against small and fast characters.

His slashes are elegant and powerful, and the most interesting thing is that, even when they hit, they have a different effectiveness in relation to the point of contact. Maximum power can be achieved in half a sword or, in other cases, by touching the opponent with the tip of the blade. He seemed like a character that requires a lot of precision, especially for these details: to use him at best, he needs great timing. Two attacks have particularly struck us: the first is the aerial one down, capable of generating a meteor effect, particularly useful for edge-guarding (but be careful to land on the surface of the ring, or you will not have time to recover). The second is the side blow, which allows, during the return to the stage, to temporarily stick to the edges of the stage, so as to alter the opponent's playing times.

If Sephiroth is in difficulty, then with a rather high percentage of energy, a wing will sprout to help him, which will allow him to recover more easily and, above all, will serve as protection during the most powerful attacks: he will not be invincible, he will still suffer damage, but he will not be thrown into the air . Attention, the tick of the wing is commensurate with the "moment of difficulty": in the case of a spin game, for example, its appearance will take into account not only the percentage of the dammeter, but also the general trend of the match.
The holds do not seem particularly effective, although they can be used as incipit for a combo. On the contrary, special moves are valuable: each of them - apart from Spark, the downward one - has different effects based on how much it is loaded. The normal one (B) generates a spell called Fusion, which becomes more powerful in relation to the time you press the button: if pushed to the maximum, Gigafusion arises, an attack difficult to manage but potentially lethal. The side special originates Shadow Flash, a spell repeatable up to three (or five, if charged for a long time) times, which turns around the opponent until it decides, a few seconds later, to damage it. The downward special, as mentioned before, is Scintilla: an enchanted barrier used for counterattack, which is neither a perfect shield, nor a way to absorb the blows of others. However, if used at the right time, it will certainly be more effective than normal protection (R), and will be very useful for complicating the return of opponents to the stage. The upward special attack generates the Lightning Strike or, if pressed for a long time, the Strike Strike: in both cases, it can be used both to attack and to return to the stage. Like so many of Sephiroth's moves, our impression is that it should be used with great precision.

It doesn't seem, at first glance, an easy to use character. However, he is very elegant and particular, as well as charismatic, so he will surely be seen often in online fights. In this regard, two alternative costumes provide a bare-chested version of it, as it appears at a certain moment in Final Fantasy VII.

Costumes, stages and music

As usual the introduction of a wrestler is accompanied by a number of new costumes, and Sephiroth is no exception; indeed, he widely dictates the line - in a certainly not unusual way - of the new masks, all - or almost - themed Final Fantasy VII. Mii costumes aren't included in either the Fighter Pass or the character's standalone purchase, so if you want them, you should shell out 80 cents for each. In addition to the chocobo hat, there are the full ones connected to Aerith, Tifa and Barret. The only external to the Final Fantasy series always comes from the Square house, and that is from Super Mario RPG: it is Geno, by many - in the past - requested as the main character of the roster. Realistically, they will have to make do with this costume.

Sephiroth's stage, Cave to the North, is something of an animated spoiler. Unlike Sakurai, who in the presentation did not care enough, here we prefer to avoid going into the details of the setting; it is true that the game is over twenty years old, it is true that the recent remake could have different developments from the original, but it is equally true that this ring gives ample prominence to the final of Final Fantasy VII which, despite being dated, by many it was only discovered in the last few months. It is a rather traditional stage, with no noteworthy interactions, but visually beautiful: it tells, moreover, a fundamental part of the original story. Sakurai staged the Final Fantasy finale in an almost theatrical way.

As for the music, the tracks taken from Final Fantasy VII are finally extended, with four original arrangements; when Sakurai presented this novelty, he remarked how difficult it is to deal with the limits imposed by copyright. It's one of the many reasons why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has long since become something mammoth and probably unrepeatable ... and three characters are still missing, which could involve as many brands still absent from the work.